26 March 2026 – On Wednesday, European nickel prices recorded a significant increase of around 3.3%. At its 99th session, the doomsday prophets of the OECD once again provided an example of selective and manipulative reporting on alleged overcapacity in steel production.
Nickel Prices with a Significant Upward Jump
Yesterday, Wednesday, European nickel prices closed trading with a significant gain of approximately 3.3%, at USD 17,550 per tonne. At the start of trading on Thursday, the nickel price stood at around USD 17,323 per tonne, and was therefore only slightly lower than the previous day.
Steel Overcapacity: The Selective and Manipulative Reporting of the OECD
At its 99th Session of the Steel Committee, the doomsday prophets of the OECD once again created their own momentum and framed the usual narrative that the expansion of global crude steel production would lead to alleged overcapacity.
OECD Once Again Sees the Blame for Overcapacity in Asia
The OECD, dominated by ageing economies, once again shifts the blame to emerging and young economic nations and regions such as India, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, and naturally China – all of which either have growing steel demand and/or access to locally available and therefore inexpensive raw materials. This is something the OECD has been aware of since the early 2000s.
Crude Steel Capacities Have Been Almost Fully Utilised for Years
Crude steel capacities have in fact been almost fully utilised for several years already. Capacity expansion is therefore absolutely necessary for many growth markets in order to meet domestic demand. In these expansion phases, which occur periodically every 10 to 15 years, there is a brief bulge in available “overcapacity” that is compensated for within a few years.
The OECD, the European Commission, and Western steel associations always proceed according to the same pattern and compare theoretical production capacities with steel demand. The fact that blast furnaces, steel mills, and rolling mills are not operated 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, at 100% capacity is knowingly swept under the carpet.
Selective and Manipulative Reporting by the OECD and GFSEC
A further perfect sector-specific example of the selective and manipulative reporting by the OECD and the Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity (GFSEC), which is largely dominated by EU member states, can already be seen on page 1 of the GFSEC Steel Excess Capacity Monitoring Bulletin from February 2026. It states, for example:
Semi-finished steel export growth among sources of excess capacity surged in Q3 2025, i.e. by 119% y/y, faster than Q1 (61.7%) and Q2 (24.9%) in 2025. As a result, some Southeast Asian and Middle East countries imported more semi-finished steel (mainly billets) from China, while at the same time they exported more finished steel to GFSEC markets.
Source: GFSEC Steel Excess Capacity Monitoring Bulletin, February 2026, Page 1
EU the Largest Beneficiary of Chinese Slab Exports?
This is not an isolated case in the report. What the GFSEC and the OECD completely fail to mention here is that, in 2025, the European Union imported more than 1.6 million tonnes of so-called slabs and billets from China. This makes the EU one of the largest buyers in this segment. Compared with 2021, imports of Chinese slabs into the EU increased by more than 8,000%. The EU is therefore likely to be among the largest beneficiaries of allegedly so cheap slabs from China.
We have one request: could you at least be a bit more clever about it in future, you amateurs?
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